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Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Writing the 2017 script

2017's Hidden Spire show is underway: Sawdust, a story set in the seedy underbelly of a vintage circus. The script has been written by Crisis clients working alongside playwright Rowan Padmore. We asked Rowan to tell us a bit more about the process.------------------------------

In April 2016 I was invited to become the writer for Hidden Spire 2017. To say I was pleased would be an understatement. I was absolutely delighted, excited and maybe - just maybe - a tiny bit scared. The previous Hidden Spire shows have been very successful, and I knew they were a hard act to follow.

We came up with a starting point to begin to explore ideas: the concept of A Beautiful Mess. We began at the end of the summer, with physical theatre workshops bringing together artists from theatre company Complicite, Crisis clients and members of the public. We then worked with Crisis clients for a fortnight offering physical workshops with Emma Webb the movement director, and writing workshops with me.

From September to March I taught a weekly play-writing class for Crisis clients where we read extracts from scripts, discussed ideas and wrote stuff. At some point in late Autumn I settled on the play being set in a circus. We looked at photos of circus acts and old posters, and began to create our own characters. We imagined the characters both onstage and off, and gave them a history and a future. We wrote dialogue and developed the relationships between them. We talked.

I then had to take the vast amount of work we had produced in class, put it together and give it shape. Some ideas receded and others jumped to the fore. I wanted to create a piece of theatre that would be entertaining and exciting and a bit weird, just like the process had been. I worried. A lot.

Eventually I came up with a script that I hope contains much of the beautiful mess of the last months. It’s set backstage in a circus big top. It’s called Sawdust. Come and see it in October.

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Hidden Spire

Hidden Spire brings professional artists and homeless people together to create a performance using music, dance, theatre, visual arts and more. The two groups work together every step of the way and aim to produce an event which will stir, enchant, amuse and intrigue.

Everything from set design, script-writing and front-of-house is done as a collaboration between the artists and clients of national homeless charity Crisis.

Hidden Spire isn’t just a production, it’s a process – it demonstrates the value and potential of having a public arts centre and resources for homeless people in the same building. Most importantly, it shows that excellent art and inclusive art can be the same thing.

Why call it Hidden Spire?

In the centre of Oxford is a tower which is hard to spot. We call it the Hidden Spire. It started life in the 19th Century as the place where small boys would have to climb and hang hoses to dry in Oxford’s first Fire Station.

It is now the route for homeless people to access the help they need to move on, for professional artists to develop their craft and for the general public to get to a dance class, a jazz night or a short story reading.

Hidden Spire

Hidden Spire - Arts at the Old Fire Station and Crisis Skylight Oxford. Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.